But neverware.com with its CloudReady can turn your PC and Mac into a Chrome OS-enabled desktop and laptop computer.

I created an USB installer, booted up and installed successfully. For those who want free OS just to browse the Internet, here's the solution, it doesn't need cutting edge hardware.

Please note that this OS cannot write files to DVD or USB, it can only read from USB or external storage. It can plays multimedia files though, and has a built-in Virtual Box (to experiment with other OS virtually)

Please also note that this OS cannot support Google Play Store although you need a Google account in order to sign in. You can only use Chromium as the Internet browser.It is mainly designed for doing things online. You will not be able to install any apps, although it will be made possible in the future.

CloudReady and Chrome OS has minor differences. Just like Chromium and Google Chrome has differences too.

i tried this a few years ago on my MSI Wind U100 netbook (atom n270 1 core 2 threads/2gb ram/intel hd gpu). it was useable. You can like open 2-3 tabs with minimal lag, or one tab with a youtube video running at 480p.

General Hardware Recommendations:Only officially certified models are guaranteed to work with CloudReady, but many other models will work fine. Neverware recommends the following minimum hardware requirements

RAM: 2GB or greater

Storage space: 16GB or more

BIOS: Full administrative access, in order to boot from the CloudReady USB installer

Processor and Graphics: Components made prior to 2007 will likely result in a poor experience. Additionally, the following graphics hardware does not meet performance standards on CloudReady: Intel GMA 500, 600, 3600, 3650

They have updated the OS to v70 and now the UI is quite different. You can have even night mode with schedule (i.e. sunset to sunrise).

One of the best thing I like about this OS is the user control. You can enable/disable guest mode, or allow/disallow sign-in from new user.Note: Only the owner (the first Google user) can manage the users.

Allow Linux app still in Beta. I heard people saying at least one user had tried to install Android Studio (SDK and IDE) on CloudReady by enabling this option.

The file manager supports files drag and drop to/from Google Drive, from memory card or phone memory (read only) and DVD drive (read only) as well.Note: ZIP is supported by default. You can zip and unzip easily. For .7z archive as an example, you need to download browser extension from Web Store which offers not many option.

The multimedia player. As usual.

I think most multimedia format is supported. (You can enable/disable/update the codec in Settings).I have tried MP3, MP4, 3GP.....all okay.

Google has added support for running Android apps via integration with the Google Play Store on many Chromebooks. Due to multiple legal and technical constraints, this functionality is not available on CloudReady.

Google's Chromium OS is open source, making it possible for a small organization like Neverware to provide a variant of it, CloudReady, as a fully supported, regularly updated option for those who don't want to purchase official Chromebooks. The work that Google and the wider Chromium community put into the Chromium/OS codebase fuels much of the value in CloudReady. Unfortunately, some aspects of Google's official Chrome OS aren't open source or part of Chromium OS. This includes some key components of the technology that allows Android Apps to run on Chrome OS.

The Android container-environment, among other critical components, are private, proprietary, and/or not licensed for re-distribution, creating both technical and legal boundaries to anyone supporting Android apps on Chromium OS except Google.........